That day a lone Gurkha took out 30 Taliban using every weapon within reach

Sergeant
Dipprasad Pun, 31, of the 1st Battalion the Royal Gurkha Rifles
holds his Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, after it was presented to
him by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in central London
June 1, 2011.REUTERS/John
Stillwell/POOL

To say that Gurkhas are simply soldiers from Nepal would be a
massive, massive understatement. If there’s a single reason no
one goes to war with Nepal, it is because of the Gurkhas’
reputation.

They are elite, fearless warriors who serve in not only the
Nepalese Army but also in the British and Indian armies as
well, a tradition since the end of the Anglo-Nepalese War in
1816.

They are known for their exceptional bravery, ability, and
heroism in the face of insurmountable odds. Faithful to their
traditions, one Gurkha in Afghanistan, Dipprasad Pun, single handedly held his post
against more than 30 Taliban fighters.

It was a September evening in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. It
was 2010, and Sergeant Dipprasad Pun of the Royal Gurkha Rifles
was on duty at a two-story outpost. He heard some noises and
found two insurgents attempting to lay an IED in a nearby road.
He realized he was surrounded. The night sky filled up with
bullets and RPG fire. Taliban fighters sprang into a well-planned
assault on Pun’s outpost.

Pun responded by pulling his machine gun off its tripod and
handholding it as he returned fire toward the oncoming fighters.
He went through every round he had available before tossing 17
grenades at the attackers. When he was out of grenades, he picked
up his SA80 service rifle and started using that. He even threw a
land mine at the enemy.

As Pun defended his position, one Taliban fighter climbed the
side of the tower adjacent to the guard house, hopped on to the
roof and rushed him. Pun turned to take the fighter out, but his
weapon misfired. Pun grabbed the tripod of his machine gun and
tossed it at the Taliban’s face, which knocked the enemy fighter
off of the roof of the building.

Pun continued to fight off the assault until reinforcements
arrived. When it was all said and done, 30 Taliban lay dead.

He was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross by Queen Elizabeth
II at Buckingham Palace.

“At that time I wasn’t worried, there wasn’t any choice but to
fight. The Taliban were all around the checkpoint, I was alone,”
he told the crowd gathered at the ceremony. “I had so many of
them around me that I thought I was definitely going to die so I
thought I’d kill as many of them as I could before they killed
me.”

In all, he fired off 250 machine gun rounds, 180 SA80 rounds,
threw six phosphorous grenades and six normal grenades, and one
claymore mine.

Pun comes from a long line of Gurkhas. His father served in the
Gurkha Rifles, as did his grandfather, who received the Victoria
Cross for an action in the World War II Burma theater.